YouTube的“敵人”

YouTube的“敵人”

樂(lè)壇正罕見(jiàn)地聯(lián)合對(duì)YouTube展開(kāi)公開(kāi)斗爭(zhēng)，YouTube有著數(shù)十億用戶(hù)。但年度銷(xiāo)售統(tǒng)計(jì)顯示，YouTube帶給音樂(lè)人的直接受益比黑膠唱片這一小眾市場(chǎng)的銷(xiāo)售更加少。

測(cè)試中可能遇到的詞匯和知識(shí)：

Coldplay 酷玩樂(lè)隊(duì)（英國(guó)著名流行樂(lè)隊(duì)）

siphon 用虹吸管吸出；抽取['sa?f(?)n]

salvo 齊鳴['s?lv??]

provision 規(guī)定；條款[pr?'v??(?)n]

prosecution 檢舉；進(jìn)行；經(jīng)營(yíng)[pr?s?'kju??(?)n]

nascent 初期的['n?s(?)nt; 'ne?-]

monetize 使貨幣化（等于monetize）['m?nitaiz]

phonographic 留聲機(jī)的；速記的[,f??n?'ɡr?f?k]

閱讀馬上開(kāi)始，建議您計(jì)算一下閱讀整篇文章所用的時(shí)間，對(duì)照下方的參考值就可以評(píng)估出您的英文閱讀水平。

如果您讀完全文用時(shí)為： 那么，您的閱讀速度相當(dāng)于 每分鐘閱讀的英文單詞數(shù)

3分31秒 母語(yǔ)為英語(yǔ)者的朗讀速度 140

1分5秒 母語(yǔ)為英語(yǔ)的中學(xué)生的閱讀速度 250

1分12秒 母語(yǔ)為英語(yǔ)的大學(xué)生的閱讀速度 350

0分4秒 母語(yǔ)為英語(yǔ)的速讀高手 1000

Pop stars complain to Brussels over YouTube（464 words）

By Matthew Garrahan in London

-----------------------------------------------------

Pop stars ranging from Abba and Coldplay to Ed Sheeran and Lady Gaga have written to the European Commission complaining that Google’s YouTube is “unfairly siphoning value” away from artists and songwriters.

More than a thousand acts signed the letter to Jean-Claude Juncker, the commission’s president, saying there was a growing “value gap” between rising music consumption — which is “exploding” — and revenue.

“The value gap undermines the rights and revenues of those who create, invest in and own music, and distorts the market place,” the artists wrote.

The letter is the latest salvo in a campaign against YouTube by acts and music labels, which are pressing for changes to provisions that give online video services “safe harbour” from prosecution if they are found to be hosting unauthorised content.

“These protections were put in place two decades ago to help develop nascent digital start-ups, but today are being misapplied to corporations that distribute and monetise our works,” the artists said.

YouTube, which shares advertising revenue from music videos with artists and labels, said it had paid out $3bn to the industry. A spokesman said the company was “working collaboratively” with the industry “to bring more money to artists”.

YouTube’s Content ID system locates unauthorised uploads and gives artists and labels the option of generating money from them via advertising.

“The overwhelming majority of labels and publishers have licensing agreements in place with YouTube, and choose to leave fan uploads up on the platform and earn money from them 95 per cent of the time,” said a YouTube spokesman.

However, many in the music industry say too much unauthorised music is slipping through the cracks.

Universal Music Group, the world’s biggest music group and home of acts such as Taylor Swift and Sam Smith, said in a recent filing to the US Copyright Office that it had hired a third-party company “just to find and claim UMG’s own content that has been used without authorisation on YouTube.”

Sony Music said in a filing that “untold millions in revenue” would “never be realised by Sony due to plays of Sony Recordings that Content ID does not identify”.

Global music revenues rose 3.2 per cent to $15bn in 2015 as digital sales of music overtook physical sales for the first time, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. It was the first year-on-year growth in almost 20 years and is being driven by streaming services, such as Spotify and Apple Music.

However, the IFPI said in a recent report that growth was being held back because “revenues are not being fairly returned to rights holders”.

The dispute with YouTube comes as the three largest music labels — Universal Music Group, Sony Music and Warner Music — negotiate new licensing deals with the Google-owned video platform.

請(qǐng)根據(jù)你所讀到的文章內(nèi)容，完成以下自測(cè)題目：

1. What undermines the rights and distorts the market place in the letter?

A. revenue

B. value gap

C. page view

D. online video services

2. When were the protections put in place to help develop nascent digital start-ups?

A. 5 years ago

B. a decade ago

C. 20 years ago

D. 15 years ago

3. Where did YouTube share advertising revenue from?

A. music videos

B. artists and labels

C. on-site advertising

D. membership fees

4. Who is the world’s biggest music group?

A. Sony Music

B. Warner Music

C. Universal Music Group

D. IFPI

[1] 答案 B. value gap

解釋?zhuān)郝?lián)名信寫(xiě)到這種價(jià)值缺口侵害了藝術(shù)家的權(quán)利并且扭曲了市場(chǎng)。

[2] 答案 C. 20 years ago

解釋?zhuān)?0年前就開(kāi)始了。

[3] 答案 A. music videos

解釋?zhuān)篩ouTube表示他們從音樂(lè)視頻中獲得的廣告收益與藝術(shù)家和唱片公司共享。

[4] 答案 C. Universal Music Group

解釋?zhuān)涵h(huán)球唱片是是全世界最大的唱片公司，也是是泰勒·斯威夫特(Taylor Swift)等流行歌手的唱片發(fā)行方。